Amazing offseason

[Off The Grid]

PudgeBob Short Pants has played us all for suckers...

Speak for yourself, my friend.


I don't root for Bob Kraft.


I root for the Patriots.


The Owner of the Team, to paraphrase my boy Hannibal Lecter, is incidental.


We and the Patriots are the 2014 NFL World Champions forever.


And nothing those scum do can ever change that.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

I feel like the general concencus around Patriots Nation is that this has been a terrible off season. I really couldn't disagree more. Sure we lost Revis and Browner and definitely don't have as good of a team on paper as last year, but that has not ruined the offseason for me one bit. This is the first offseason in 10 years I haven't woken up every single day thinking about the "what ifs."

-What if the referees didn't blow the call in Denver when Champ Bailey clearly lost the ball out of the end zone?

-What if Reche Caldwell could catch a football?

-What if David Tyree didn't catch a football off his helmet in the closing minutes of the game?

-What if Brady stayed healthy?

-What if the Patriots will never get back to being what they used to be?

-What if they could have just squeeked out that tough divisional game against the Jets?

-What if Wes Welker had a clutch gene?

-What if Gronkowski didn't break his arm?

-What if Talib wasn't a mental midget?

This offseason I wake up everyday with none of these thoughts. To be honest I haven't even really been thinking about football much. Every time I think about it I laugh knowing the Pats just beat the team Peyton Manning got chin checked by the year before. Football will get here when it gets here and for the first time in a decade, I won't wish my summer away.

Not everyone has to agree with me, but feeling any other way in my eyes is kinda hard to fathom. The perception of this franchise from jealous fans, former players, media, ect does not have any bearing on the way I feel about this team right now. Does anyone else feel the same way?

It should be a time for the celebration of a remarkable season and I usually don't care what the haters think. The problem is some of these haters work for the NFL office and one is the Commissioner. When the SB MVP is suspended and draft picks are taken away for no reason, it's kind of a buzzkill to say the least.

 

[RobertWeathers]

One thing I will give the Seattle credit for is that their fans seem to accept that it was a bad play call or a great play by Butler. I have read a few Seattle comments and most have nothing to do with Deflategate or cheating rather they refer to the 10 point comeback and that their defence was injured. So I personally would give the Seattle fans a tip of the hat regarding their reaction to the Super Bowl loss.

Yep. I've had the same thing said to me. The only "what ifs" I have gotten was Cliff Avril's concussion. The 'Hawks fans contention is that if he doesn't get hurt, Brady doesn't go off like he did in the 4th qtr. Maybe/maybe not. Thats fine.

I've said the same thing about Gronk in SB 46. If hes 100% vs the Giants, Pats win.

 

[Sicilian]

I've been watching last year's games that I had saved on my DVR. The thing that jumped out at me about the D was how often Browner's penalties hurt us by keeping drives alive for the opponent. We will probably be a work in progress in the secondary, but less penalties will be an improvement.

I agree and disagree to some extent. While the penalties were frustrating at times, I think they came as a trade off for being an aggressive corner, something that was valuable (if not always in a tangible way). Case in point, the Super Bowl INT was made possible because he is a strong, aggressive corner.

There's also no guarantee we're going to see less penalties without Browner. The difference may be, instead of penalties due to over aggression, they're penalties due to improper technique or guys compensating when they're beat. Those to me would be a lot more frustrating.

Speak for yourself, my friend.


I don't root for Bob Kraft.


I root for the Patriots.


The Owner of the Team, to paraphrase my boy Hannibal Lecter, is incidental.


We and the Patriots are the 2014 NFL World Champions forever.


And nothing those scum do can ever change that.

This is a realization I came to during this offseason as well. I think most fans don't love their owner. Some may be indifferent, some may admire parts of their personality or business acumen, but I think the typical sentiment is that a fan roots for a jersey, and the people that play the games. The owner is a necessary evil that allows us to watch that product on TV.

Just look at almost every sports movie in history. The villain is usually the owner, even of the team you're supposed to be rooting for:

Major League
Slap Shot
Any Given Sunday
Baseketball (satire, but the whole point was about greedy owners)
Even The Mighty Ducks (the corrupt law firm sponsored the team)

I found my equilibrium by realizing I can be happy for the team, it's coaches, and it's players, without having to give two s**ts about the owner.

 

[Patriot Missile]

One of the greatest things about last year is that Peyton Manning will always be mentioned right after #12 regarding greatest QB's of all time, kind of like a modern day Jim Kelly.

OTOH it has cemented Brady as right at the top.. probably #2 all time when all is said and done, but Peyton does have really, really, really, really good numbers...

Give it time. In some eyes he will be the greatest QB of all time after week 2. The short memory syndrome that plaques the media and fans.

It is a ridiculous argument and I about laughed mao when I read the comments in the bleacher report top QBs. Believe me, many fans are not changing their minds regarding this topic even after Brady won his 4th. He could win 5 and it wouldn't change the die hard Manning blowhards opinion.

But history has a funny way of rearing itself down the road. Everyone still awes at what Bradshaw and Montana did and Brady has a chance to get 1 or 2 more. The best manning can hope for is to be mentioned in the same breath as Favre or Marino. 2 great QBs and so is Manning. Lets not kid ourselves, although a choker he is great. Its just he is not mecca Tom Brady. No one is. Living legend and all the haters grasp at straws with the deflating argument just to make it not so sting so bad.. It's all they have to cling onto and it is lol pathetic.

 

[Tunescribe]

Speak for yourself, my friend.


I don't root for Bob Kraft.


I root for the Patriots.


The Owner of the Team, to paraphrase my boy Hannibal Lecter, is incidental.


We and the Patriots are the 2014 NFL World Champions forever.


And nothing those scum do can ever change that.

What I posted doesn't contradict any of this.

 

[primetime]

Some of you are pretty humorless in your appreciation of something that is literally just entertainment for a few hours on Sundays for you, in the final analysis. Great post, OP.

 

[New England Pride]

Some of you are pretty humorless in your appreciation of something that is literally just entertainment for a few hours on Sundays for you, in the final analysis. Great post, OP.

It's unreal. @BradyFTW! Actually disliked it lmao. No comment of course.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

One thing I will give the Seattle credit for is that their fans seem to accept that it was a bad play call or a great play by Butler. I have read a few Seattle comments and most have nothing to do with Deflategate or cheating rather they refer to the 10 point comeback and that their defence was injured. So I personally would give the Seattle fans a tip of the hat regarding their reaction to the Super Bowl loss.

The fans of teams other than the Seahawks and Patriots are the ones who give Butler and Brady way too little credit and instead paint the whole outcome as 100% the result of a Pete Caroll brain fart. I mention that it was the largest comeback in SB history, and all in the 4th quarter, and they look at me like I'm an alien. Then they say "you lucked out because their coach choked". Sad, deluded haters. But you're right, Seahawks fans are more grounded in reality.